Editor's Notebook: Night Ball

One of the joys of summer is night baseball under the lights. Even this hot year, when the infield sand is so dry that an orange cloud hovers over home plate, there's magic to it. Under the lights, every movement is magnified, from the catcher's signals to the runner's anxious wanderings away from first base. Beyond the outfield fence, there's complete darkness. The end of the visible world is the glowing scoreboard out in far left field.

The center of this world is the pitcher's mound, which, especially in the dark, seems miles away from the rest of the field. Outfielders see the whole game, infielders can look right and left to find one another, and the catcher is sandwiched between batter and ump. But that pitcher is all alone. What he has are signals from the catcher, who is reading the bases, glancing at the coach for direction, sizing up each batter, and making sense of the umpire's strike zone. In seconds, the pitcher makes sense of the signals and throws a ball across the plate. I've been told that, even in the Major Leagues, pitchers and their catchers hang around together. A friend who played minor league ball was talking about a pitcher. "I caught him," the friend said. They share a language of looks and gestures.

These photos are intended to capture the moments between movement, when the score can be read in coach and players' gestures. Please add your own photos or comment on night games you have seen or played. Summer's is going fast, and night ball will soon be a memory.